104 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



putting the boxes directly on the frame. 

 The boxes did not quite cover the frame, 

 leaving a space of an inch or so at the back 

 end, and then he blocked up the back end 

 of the cap or cover so as to allow free up- 

 ward ventilation. Bee-keepers take a note 

 of this, as Mr. Grimm considers it a xtrorifj 

 point, making a decided amount of differ- 

 ence in the amount of honey stored. In 

 the spring he had fed several barrels of ex- 

 tracted honey, and considered himself 

 largely the gainer by it. 



Mr. Grimm thinks he can do better with 

 boxes than to depend upon the extractor. 

 Certainly, with his large number of hives, 

 it would be a difficult thing to keep the 

 honey extracted. He does not get so large 

 a yield per hive as many others, but having 

 so many hives his aggregate yield is, I be- 

 lieve, larger than that of any other. The 

 question of extractor versus boxes, perhaps, 

 depends upon the number of colonies kept. 

 If I had Novice's number, I certainly should 

 use the extractor— if Mr. Grimm's, I should 

 be inclined to boxes. 



After all, is not the important question, 

 how to get the most money from one's whole 

 stock of bees rather than to get the largest 

 yield per hive V If so, I think Mr. Grimm 

 is entitled to the palm. He showed me, on 

 a previous visit, accounts of one year's 

 work, yielding him ten thousand dollars. 

 His own belief is that his success is due 

 mainly to the superior breed of bees he has. 

 As is pretty well known, he prefers the 

 smaller dark Italians. I mentioned to him 

 that I had kept my bees the previous winter 

 in a cellar with tight cement bottom, and 

 they had come out very mouldy. He re- 

 plied that he had been obliged to abandon 

 the nice cellar with cement bottom that he 

 had built a year or two previous, and be- 

 lieved a cellar for bees should not have 

 cement bottom. 



Recently Mr. M. M. Baldridge mentioned 

 to me one or two cases in which bees had 

 kept unusually well in cellars with open 

 cisterns in them. Perhaps the water ab- 

 sorbed the impurities of the air, and the 

 earth bottom of a cellar may act in some- 

 what the same way. 



Mr. Grimm thinks highly of Novice's 

 bee-feeder, but doesn't like his quilt. He 

 uses for a honey board a plain pine board, 

 an inch thick, with a hole (inch hole, I 

 think) for the bees to pass through to feed. 

 Instead of feet as Novice; has under his 

 feeder, he has a close rim of tin which 

 supports the feeder and prevents the escape 

 of heat. 



Mr. Grimm has lately commenced the 

 banking business, but thinks he can make 

 more money bee-ing, so he will continue in 

 both departments. 



As I took no notes of my visit but depend 

 entirely on my memory, I may possibly not 



represent everything exactly straight, but I 

 should not be so veri/ sorry if I did tell a 

 few lies about Mr. Grimm, if thereby I 

 could get him to give a correct version with 

 his own pen in the Amekican Bee Journal. 

 Although a very busi/ man, I don't be- 

 lieve he is so seltisli as to deny us the benefit 

 of his experience if he really thought it was 

 wanted. What little business I have had 

 with him has been most satisfactory, and if 

 I were buying bees or queens I would 

 rather not see them, but trust to his selec- 

 tion. If having all the bees one can take 

 care of, a pleasant wife and family, and a 

 comfortable home, can make one happy, 

 Mr. Grimm ought to be happy. 



B. LUNDERER. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



California as a Bee Location. 



Mn. Editor : — The enclosed letter will 

 explain itself. If you think it is not too 

 lengthy to publish in the American Bee 

 Journal, it would be interesting to many 

 readers, as it has been to me — especially 

 those seeking good " bee " locations. 

 Cynthiana, Ky. H. Nesbit. 



H. Nesbit, Dear Sir : — I hasten to answer 

 your letter, which was received a few days 

 ago. Most of the honey shipped from here 

 is strained by the heat of the sun, by put- 

 ting it on perforated iron plates in a boat- 

 formed, glass covered reservoir, from which 

 it runs into the "tank." The wax melts 

 after most of the honey lias run out, goes 

 through the plates, and when cold is re- 

 moved from the strainer. 



Three years ago I got a honey-extractor, 

 and since then several other bee-keepers 

 have commenced using it. A few only put 

 honey up in the comb — mostly in two 

 pound cans. It is difficult to ship comb- 

 lioney in frames to San Francisco, owing to 

 the many changes it has to go through : 

 from apiary to railroad, from there to a 

 lighter, then to a steamer, and finally to a 

 wagon, before it is received at the stora 

 This will, however, be remedied, when wc 

 in a few years, get a railroad through to 

 San Francisco. 



This, as well as the adjoining counties of 

 San Bernardino and San Diego, is a very 

 good locality for bee-keeping. As we have 

 no snow except on top of the mountains, 

 and very little frost, in many places none 

 at all, we leave the bees on tiieir summer 

 stands without any protection, and the bees 

 are flying every day except when it is 

 cloudy or rains, which, alas ! does not hap- 

 pen as often as we desire. There is no time 

 during the year when there are not some 

 flowers to work on. The last four or five 

 years have been very dry, owing to a 

 scarcity of rain in the winter. It is a mira- 

 cle if it rains here between May and No- 



